What Lovers Are For
by VeryBoredSoul
Summary: Raido feels more than a little insecure after acquiring new scars from a mission. Genma just wants to make sure his friend will be okay. One-shot. Light Shounen Ai. Rated for Genma's mouth.


~*~What Lovers Are For~*~

Raidou's ears burned as he heard the remarks the villagers were making about him. About his face. He ducked his head down as much as he could while he walked through the village. It was not enough. Villagers still saw his face. He didn't look any different from how he normally did…except for the scars marring his left cheek.

The scars were big enough to catch people's attention; then, they started talking. Nasty little comments about his face flew through the air. He could hear the disgust and horror in their voices as the tones reached his ears. Comments about how ugly he was. Wondering why he didn't wear a mask to cover the scars. Mocking him because of how his mouth pulled up slightly now that his skin wasn't even.

Raidou could only walk faster. He had one destination in mind that was a safe haven from all of these judgmental voices: his apartment.

He quickly reached said destination and immediately locked himself inside. There. No more voices could reach him about his scars.

With a sigh, Raidou shuffled through his apartment to his bedroom and heavily sat down on his bed. He was tired. Not the kind of tired where getting an adequate amount of rest would solve the problem, but the kind of tired that ran deep into one's bones. The kind of tired that made someone want to give up on life.

Not that he would. He did have someone to live for after all.

At least…he hoped he still had someone to live for.

Closing his eyes, Raidou flopped down onto his right side. About a year ago, Namiashi Raidou had returned from the mission that had given him these scars. That's when people first began talking.

He knew it was stupid to listen to them. Most of the time, it was civilians mentioning his appearance, and they wouldn't know any better. Usually, he was able to tune them out.

It was always difficult, however, to tune out the comments fellow shinobi made toward him. He hadn't picked up on the hateful ridicules at first, but he slowly realized what others were saying about him.

The final straw had been when he heard a couple of tokubetsu jonin ask Genma, Hayate, and Aoba why they wanted to hang out with the scar-faced freak. Raido had calmly walked away (ran as fast as he could), so that he didn't hear his friends' answers. He didn't blame them if they didn't want to be around him anymore. He had noticed that they were around him less and less in public. They only ever wanted to hang out with him if it was somewhere they couldn't be seen.

After that incident, Raido retreated into himself and shut everyone else out. He didn't accept any invitations to hang out or go somewhere. He threw himself into his mission work and fine-tuned his skills as an assassin.

Pretty soon, a year had passed, and Raidou had found himself where he was today. It still wasn't easy walking into the village with awfully visible scars. Raidou had formed a ton of respect for everyone he knew that showed off their scars instead of trying to hide them. Just as he formed an understanding of those who hid their scars from sight.

Why didn't Raidou try hiding his scars? Well, he had tried, but the mask was unbearably uncomfortable. He had ended up pulling it down more than he had it up, and he finally decided that he deserved to be comfortable in his own village. The villagers could deal with the scars as long Raidou was fighting for their safety and protection.

Plus, wearing the mask had irritated his skin, and leaving it off left his scars a normal scar-looking color, and not the irritated, itching red color they had been whenever he had worn the mask properly.

Raidou heaved another sigh. Today was his first vacation day. After the Third Hokage realized that Raidou had been taking missions nonstop for the past year, he had forced Raidou to take the vacation time that the ANBU member had managed to rack up.

Raidou had tried to pitch a fit, but it just wasn't in his demeanor. He had accepted his orders from the Third with only a couple lines of protest. Raidou knew very well that he had only been able to get away with the string of missions this past year because the village was in a fragile state still, so soon after the fox attack. Thusly, he took his forced leave and ended up coming to his apartment to lie on his bed.

It wasn't as if it was Raidou's fault that he didn't want to be in the village for very long. Plus, the nonstop missions had really honed Raidou's skills and made him into a fine assassin. Really, the Third should just let Raidou keep on going with his mission streak…at least, that was Raidou's opinion.

But if he was being honest with himself, Raidou was slightly glad for the forced R&R. He had missed his family and village (minus the naysayers) and friends…and he especially missed one very special honey haired, senbon sucking ANBU that Raidou had been trying extra hard to avoid. Genma was Raidou's best friend, yes, but that didn't mean Raidou wanted to parade his failures in front of the other man.

He could only hope that Genma would be on a mission the entirety of Raidou's forced vacation. Otherwise, he didn't know how he was going to avoid the other man. Genma was very persistent when he wanted to be.

Although…maybe if he just hid out in his apartment, caught up on his rest and went to get groceries at nighttime, he could avoid being seen by Genma until his forced R&R was over.

Nodding to himself, he thought that he could make it happen.

That is…until he heard a knock on his apartment door.

Raidou groaned. He knew that chakra signature. Even though it had been nearly a year, he still knew exactly who it was at his front door.

Think of the devil and he shall appear.

Raidou managed to convince himself to get out of bed and walked over to the front door.

Throwing it open, he revealed the one person he had been hoping to avoid.

Genma.

Genma was one of Raido's greatest weaknesses. Had been for who knows how long. Raidou thinks it started back in the academy, when the war had forced his generation to grow up too fast. He and Genma had been seatmates all through their academy days. They were both devastated when they had been put on separate teams, but they had remained good friends…until recently.

Raido's self-imposed isolation meant that they hadn't seen each other in almost a year.

Ah, but Raido should have known that his absence wouldn't have shaken Genma as easily as it might have shaken Aoba or even Hayate. Despite the fact that they had been friends since they were kids, they had grown even closer when they were assigned to protect Minato-sama. His death had made them inseparable when they weren't on separate missions.

So really, he should have known Genma would seek him out.

Steeling himself, Raidou looked at his best friend. His reason for coming home, for living, for surviving. Genma didn't know this, but Raidou wanted to be more than just best friends with the other ANBU member. He had never voiced his feelings though, and now he never would. Not with the way he looked after the mission that gave him these scars. Not to mention the insecurity he felt from overhearing his friends being asked to explain themselves for wanting to be around the "scar-faced freak".

Raidou's attention snapped to Genma as his best friend spoke.

"Been a while, Rai." To someone who didn't know Genma, they would say his voice sounded like it always did. To Raido, he heard the hurt laced within the other man's tone.

Raidou could only nod and step aside so that Genma could come inside. Raidou may have forced himself into isolation, but Genma had sought him out and wanted to talk. Raidou could never refuse Genma anything he wanted. Ever.

Genma stepped inside and kicked off his sandals. After the door was shut, Genma stared at Raidou with such an intense gaze that Raidou gave in and began to talk.

"Hey, Gen. How've you been?"

"Don't you think you'd know that if you had bothered to check in whenever you were in the village?"

Raidou winced at the tone the other man's voice had taken on now that they were inside and had the sense of privacy. "I was busy with missions. You know how it is now that our village has been weakened by the fox attack."

Genma only stared in silence at Raidou.

Raidou couldn't help but wonder if Genma was staring at his scars.

Shaking his head clear of such thoughts, Raido went to the kitchen to start making some milk tea. He knew that Genma loved it when he made it especially for him. Hopefully, it would help break the wall that he felt was between them now.

Genma cleared his throat after the preparations had been made, and the tea was on the kettle.

Raido tensed then turned to face his longtime friend. Genma was right behind Raido, so when Raido turned, they were face to face. Raido resisted the urge to take a step back, and instead remained still. He wanted to show Genma that he still trusted him.

Genma was looking right into Raidou's eyes. Hesitantly, he brought his right hand up and cautiously cupped Raidou's cheek.

Raidou closed his eyes as soon as contact was made. Genma surely thought he was disgusting now. Even more so than before because now Genma knew what his face felt like, and how it was all marked and bumpy and…

"Does it hurt?" Genma's voice was barely a whisper. Had Raido not been used to listening for the whispers of teammates on the battlefield all his life, he might not have heard Genma say anything.

Raidou searched for his voice before answering. "Not anymore…not physically at least."

He gasped softly as he felt Genma's thumb start to lightly trace over the raised skin. Opening one eye, he watched Genma carefully. The other man was still looking at Raido's face, concern showing on the familiar features.

"It seems like you still have sensation here. That's good."

Raidou opened both eyes at the clinical comment and raised an eyebrow. Clearing his throat, he said, "Yeah. I was lucky that Lady Tsunade was the one to heal the burns on the left side of my body. Otherwise, I might not have the sensations that I do."

Realizing what he just said, Raidou felt a blush color his cheeks. He hoped Genma already knew that the left side of his body had been burned and not just his face.

Genma nodded and lightly dropped his hand down onto Raidou's shoulder. "Before you went on your mission streak, I caught a glimpse of you changing. I believe I had come to pick you up before we went to hang out at Aoba's one night. I hadn't meant to, but I needed to use the bathroom, and your bedroom door wasn't shut. …I saw the scars on your shoulder and the top part of your hip." Genma started to lightly rub Raidou's left shoulder, hoping to help ease the tension he saw there. "I waited for you to tell me what happened on that mission, but you were so closed up about it. Then you took off without even saying goodbye." Genma's voice sounded hurt again, and Raidou's face fell at the tone.

"I'm sorry, Gen. I really am. If I had known you were so worried about me–"

"Of course I was worried about you, idiot!" Genma's voice had risen slightly, but his hand was still soothing on Raido's shoulder. "I always worry about you when we're not on the same mission together. It kills me that I can't make sure you're safe until both of us are back in the village at the same time."

Raidou's eyes widened at Genma's words. Genma worried about him when he was away on missions? He honestly hadn't known that. He knew Genma would be happy when he was in the village, but he didn't know Genma had worried about him while he was away on missions.

"Gen…I'm so sorry. I am an idiot." Raidou placed his left hand on Genma's right hand to still the movement then pulled Genma into a tight hug.

Genma responded immediately and huffed indignantly. "You better be." Genma relaxed into the embrace a little more, and Raido just hugged him just a little tighter.

"I promise that I'll come see you the next time I get back from a mission. Even if it's really late or really early." Raidou felt Genma's head moving, and he decided that meant Genma was okay with that.

"Good. How long is your forced R&R?" Genma asked, pulling away from the hug.

Raido immediately let him go. "How did you know it was forced?"

Genma snorted. "With the way you were going on missions? You weren't even in the village long enough to clean your apartment before you left again….and well…I just came from the Hokage Tower. Lord Third might have mentioned that you were back in the village for a while…"

Raido nodded and his face held a smile. Leave it to the Third to do a little meddling.

The tea kettle interrupted the moment, and Raidou let go of Genma to finish preparing the milk tea. He poured two cups, and the two ANBU members went to sit on the couch.

There was an awkward tension again before Genma heaved a sigh and broke it. "Rai, why did you go on that mission streak? We've all missed you. Your family…Aoba and Hayate. Hell! Even Kakashi was asking where you were every now and again." Genma turned to Raidou with a question in his eyes. "What was so bad that you were forced into mission mode 24/7?"

Raidou looked away from Genma's eyes and took a sip of milk tea. He felt humiliated about what he was about to say.

"I…I heard that conversation…you probably don't even remember it…but a few of the tokubetsu jonin had asked you, Aoba, and Hayate why you guys would want to hang out with a…scar faced freak. I believe they had also called me a weak ninja to let something like this happen to me…"

Genma was quiet before Raidou heard him laughing. "Oh yeah. That. I remember that. Didn't you stick around to hear our answers?"

Raidou kept his head down and simply shook his head. No, he hadn't. He didn't think he would have been able to bear hearing his friends confirm that they didn't want to be seen with him, and they just hung out with him out of pity.

Genma lifted Raido's head, so Raido was looking into Genma's eyes again. "We beat the hell out of them. Told them that they were fucking idiots to say that you were weak. We're your friends, Rai. You should have stuck around. Could have at least helped us beat the shit out of them." Then, Genma smiled. A breathtaking smile that had Raido rethinking his entire mantra.

Maybe…maybe his friends weren't embarrassed to be around him.

"But surely that wasn't what made you go into mission mode, was it?" Genma asked.

Raidou finally nodded. "It was…and…the villagers and other ninja. Those who didn't know me…they were all so cruel…so…"

Genma nodded. "We all know that some civilians are almost hateful in what they say about us. But other ninja? I mean, besides those tokujo that we beat up, I didn't hear anything bad about you, Rai."

Raidou looked down again. "That's because we never hung out in public as often as we used to."

Genma's eyes widen as he realized his and his friends' mistake. "Rai! We weren't embarrassed to be seen with you in public! We just knew that you were more comfortable hanging out in private… Shit, I'm sorry if you thought we didn't want to be seen with you. We just wanted you to be more comfortable."

Raido inhaled sharply at Genma's confession. Here he had been thinking his friends were embarrassed of him. They were just looking out for him.

The knowledge made him feel warm.

"Shit, Rai. If I knew you had been thinking like that, I would have tried harder to catch you in between all of your missions." Genma leaned in closer to Raidou and caught his friend in a one armed hug. "Well, at least you know that I'm no good at these kind of things…am I forgiven for being an idiot?"

Raido nodded his affirmation and laughed while Genma grinned. Genma always did have a way of making Raido feel better.

Now that most of the tension had been broken between the two friends, conversation flowed smoothly, and tea was drunk with a relish.

After a few hours of easy comradery, Genma told Raidou that he was staying the night because it was too damn late to go back to his own apartment.

Raidou agreed without an argument.

In the morning, Genma awoke first. Raidou knew this because when Raidou woke up, Genma's face was less than a foot away, staring into his face with concentration.

Raidou almost hit Genma with a kunai, but luckily for Genma, Raidou's reflexes were as good at stopping as they were at starting.

"Gen! What the hell!?" Raidou yelled as soon as the kunai was dropped out of reach of Genma's neck.

Genma could only grin impishly. "Good morning?"

Raido growled. "That's not what I was asking. I meant, why are you in my bedroom instead of in the guest room…or I don't know, anywhere else that isn't a foot away from my bed?"

Genma sighed before sitting on the edge of Raidou's bed. "Sorry, Rai. I just…I'm worried about you. And…I was thinking. Shit…" Genma ran a hand through his hair before turning toward Raidou. Carefully, slowly, Genma reached his hand out toward the left side of Raidou's face.

Raidou tensed but didn't move as Genma's fingers made contact with his skin.

Genma's fingers were tracing his scars again, and Raido's breath hitched when Genma's index finger ran over the scar that extended across Raido's nose.

"What are you doing, Gen?" Raido asked. He could tell his voice sounded breathless, but he couldn't find it in himself to care at that moment. Genma's fingers were tracing his scars almost lovingly, and all Raido could think about was how handsome the other man looked in the morning sunlight.

Genma paused, then slowly took his hand away. Raidou resisted the urge to whimper and successfully repressed it. "Rai…I'll be blatantly honest with you. We've been best friends for practically all our lives. We've never really kept things from each other…and you know how blunt I can be. But…I have to ask. What happened on that mission?" Genma punctuated his question by tracing his fingers over Raidou's face again. Then his hand dropped down to start tracing the scars on Raidou's shoulder.

Raido closed his eyes. He honestly hadn't expected Genma to want an explanation. Reliving the mission, that's something Raidou tried to avoid doing, especially since he specialized in assassinations. But for Genma, he would do it.

 **~v~*~v~**

 _The mission that had given Raidou his scars had been a solo assassination mission that he had been assigned to carry out. The mission lasted almost two months._

 _His mission had been to take down three rogue ninja that had traveled too far into Konoha territory and were terrorizing one of the smaller towns. It had taken him forever to find the three, almost two weeks. They had split up, and Raidou had been forced to follow only one of them._

 _They were extremely skilled ninja. The first one had been the one to burn him. Scar him._

 _Raidou had caught up with the first shinobi, and the two engaged in battle almost immediately. The other ninja predominantly used fire style ninjutsu. Raidou's expertise in fighting is swordplay, and most of his techniques require him to be a short-to-mid-distance fighter. That had been Raidou's downfall._

 _With Raido's fighting style, he had to get close to kill when engaged in battle. He didn't quite have the speed nor the sharingan of Kakashi Hatake to avoid the attack that scarred him, or even see it coming, before it was too late._

 _Raido had been in position to strike, the killing blow nonetheless, when he saw the hand signs for a fire style jutsu. He tried to avoid it, but it still seared him._

 _The missing ninja had made sure that the attack would be hard to evade. It had spiraled from his mouth and tried to wind its way around Raido's body to make him immobile. Luckily, Raido managed to jump out of the way just enough to avoid being captured within the spiral. Unfortunately, the left side of his body had been hit with parts of the spiral fire jutsu. His face, shoulder, hip and upper thigh had sustained damage._

 _Not enough damage to prevent Raido from finishing the bastard off though. Raido killed the other ninja quickly, knowing that he himself would die if he didn't strike while the other ninja was so depleted of chakra._

 _The bad thing was that Raidou had sustained quite a lot of damage, and he still had to finish off two more shinobi that were at least on par with the one he just fought._

 _Raidou decided to buy his time, and he returned to the smaller town – the one the missing ninjas had been terrorizing before he showed up – to rest and treat his injuries as best as he was able to._

 _It was a week before Raidou could move his body without excruciating pain shooting through his nervous system every time he twitched a muscle, and another two weeks before Raidou was able to move his body as much as he could without hurting the tender skin. Swathed in bandages and ointment, Raidou set out again to look for the two remaining missing shinobi._

 _Three days into looking, he caught a trail and followed it. On the trail, he ran into Tsunade and a little Shizune. Shizune remembered Raidou, and she demanded that Tsunade help heal Radiou's skin._

 _With a grimace of ascent, Tsunade had attempted to heal Raidou's skin as much as she could. He thought he heard her mumble, "At least there's no blood."_

 _Raidou thanked the women by sharing some of the alcohol he had bought himself to disinfect his wounds and to numb himself from the pain._

 _Tsunade had graciously accepted. Unfortunately, she told him that his skin would probably never be the same. She had healed it to the point where it would close, but there would be scars left marring his skin. She apologized for that, saying that she could tell he was a handsome young man, and hopefully any woman he found himself would be into the 'battle scarred' look._

 _Raidou had laughed, said his goodbyes, and continued on the trail he had been tracking. With a sour grin, he thought, "Maybe…Genma would be into battle scars?" Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Raidou searched for the other two missing ninja still in Konoha territory._

 _Moving at a slower pace, it was a week more before he finally found his targets._

 _Kami-sama must have taken pity on Raidou after he had been burned by the fire user. He didn't sustain any infections, he had run into Tsunade and Shizune who had helped heal him, and his two remaining targets had regrouped._

 _He killed them quickly. One had been asleep, and the other had been taken by surprise. Raidou was just glad that the mission was finally over._

 _Still newly scarred, and dead tired, Raidou made his way back to Konoha. He had delivered his mission report, ignored the whispers about his appearance, and holed himself up in his apartment._

 **~v~*~v~**

"After that, I tried to stay in my apartment as much as I could. Then, I went on that mission streak. Today will be my first full day without a mission since that day I overheard your conversation with the tokubetsu jonin."

Raidou had avoided Genma's gaze entirely as he told his story, but the silence from Genma was enough to make him finally look at the other man.

What he saw shocked him.

Genma's eyes were filling with unshed tears. He reached out toward Raidou and pulled the scarred man into his arms. Raidou offered no resistance because he was still shocked at Genma's crying.

The two shinobi stayed like that for an unidentifiable amount of time before Genma's voice, still thick with tears, told Raidou, "Do Not Hate Yourself. And do NOT tell me that you don't. I can tell by the way you talk about yourself."

Raidou closed his eyes and finally hugged Genma back. "Gen…how can you stand to be around me? I'm…not…I…don't…"

"Rai, you're stunning. Handsome. Attractive. Hell…you're so much more than all of those words. Don't continue to think you're ugly now that you don't look the same as how you used to."

Raidou looked down. "You're not lying, right, Gen? Cause, I don't think I could take being lied to from you."

Raidou heard Genma make a noise of dissent before Raidou's face was lifted with Genma's fingers. "I mean it, Rai. You're still very good looking."

Raidou shook his head slightly, sadly. "I used to be, Gen. Did you know that we used to be considered the devilish duo? Two men too handsome for women." Rai's laugh was bitter as it came out. "Now, I'm just the scar-faced freak who hangs out with a good looking guy."

Raidou saw something flash across Genma's face. It was too fast for Raidou to figure out what emotion Genma had just felt, but he didn't have enough time to think too much about it.

Suddenly, Genma's lips were on Raidou's, and Raidou couldn't think at all. His mind was blank.

As the need for oxygen became prominent, Genma pulled away. Then, he leaned his forehead against Raido's, and Raido looked into Genma's eyes.

"Gen…"

Genma cut Raidou off with another kiss. Apparently, Genma didn't want Raidou to talk at the moment. When they parted for air a second time, Raidou tried talking again, but Genma just pressed his mouth against Raidou's once again.

Raido couldn't understand it. This was unfathomable. Out of all the reactions he had expected from Genma, this hadn't been one. Not even close.

He tried saying so, but Genma kept interrupting him with his lips.

Finally getting the hint, Raidou returned the kiss. He could feel Genma smile right before they parted for air once again. "Don't say anything." Genma said. "Just kiss me."

They sat there, hugging and kissing and just releasing their emotions onto each other. Raidou's head was fuzzy, and he realized his pants had gotten quite uncomfortable. But he didn't mind that much.

Finally, Genma allowed Raido to talk.

"Genma, do not interrupt me with another kiss, or so help me I will hurt you."

Genma grinned and stopped himself from giving Raido another kiss.

"Sorry. You just…I've been waiting to do that for such a long time…and when you responded, I got excited and couldn't stop."

Raidou laughed at Genma's explanation, then he stopped as the words sunk in. "You really meant to do that, then?"

Genma looked confused. "Uh, yeah? I mean…we've been kissing for the last twenty minutes, Rai."

Raidou grinned and gave a quick peck against Genma's lips, leaving Genma with a goofy grin adorning his face. "Just checking, Gen. How long have you been waiting to do that?"

"Too damn long."

Raido nodded. "I'm glad you finally did. But…you sure you want to…be interested in me?"

Genma sighed. "Raidou, if you keep asking stupid questions, I'm going to take you out into the middle of the busiest street in Konoha, yell something ridiculous to make sure everyone is looking at us, and then kiss you exactly like I was just doing a few moments ago. So, yes, Rai…I want to be interested in you. I've never stopped being interested in you, even with these." Genma's hand stroked Raidou's scars again, and Raidou swore he felt love in those fingertips again.

Raidou grinned. He couldn't believe it.

Genma liked him. Genma wanted him. Even with his scars, Genma was interested in him.

Raidou couldn't understand it, but that didn't make it any less true.

Raidou shivered as Genma's fingertips started tracing over a particularly sensitive area on his shoulder.

He looked up into Genma's face and realized that Genma was watching him with that same intense expression he had woken up to.

"Are you thinking again? Cause you know, that's quite dangerous for you."

Genma stuck out his tongue at Raidou and raised an eyebrow in a mocking expression. "Har. Har. You're so funny I forgot to laugh."

Raido grinned at the ridiculous expression on his friend's face. As Raidou feels a warmth start to spread within him, he thinks that maybe Genma is more than just a crush. Hell, who was he kidding? Genma was more than just a crush. But Raido was too afraid of rejection to ever acknowledge that before now.

Raidou leaned forward to capture Genma's lips in a wet kiss. He felt a spark of victory as he heard Genma's breathing hitch. That was a delicious sound.

Ah, but Genma returned the favor. His hand had traveled down to Raidou's hip, and it was now tracing the scars there. Those were way more sensitive when someone else was touching them compared to when he had to.

He gasped sharply as the edge of Genma's hand brushed against his early morning problem that had gotten harder with all their earlier kissing.

Genma's eyes widened slightly. "You too?"

Raidou could only laugh at the expression on the other man's face. "Don't worry, Gen. We just started our…would you call it a romantic relationship? Well, anyhow, I can fix that problem on my own."

Genma's blush was something Raido thought he would never see. That man had no sense of shame, so it surprised Raido to see Genma's face that red. "I…ah…Yes, I would call it a romantic relationship. And um…I can help with that…if you want…"

Raidou shook his head. "Don't think I'm ruining this by rushing into anything. Genma…I just figured out that you like me…Scars and all. So…no. Thank you for the offer, but I think we both know that we can take care of the problem by ourselves…do you want to be called 'lover' or 'boyfriend'?"

Genma's hand had found its way back to Raidou's shoulder. "Lover. Rolls off the tongue better. Rai's my lover. Although, Rai's my boyfriend sounds just as good…hmm…I don't care. Whichever you want."

Raidou nodded and turned his head to kiss Genma's hand that was on his shoulder.

"Hey, Rai?"

Raidou looked up at Genma as Genma's hand stilled on his shoulder. "Yeah?"

Genma was smiling as he said, "Do you finally believe that I find you very attractive?" Genma's grin was the one thing that had Raido leaning into Genma for another kiss.

"It will take a while. So please, _please_ , wait for me?"

Genma nodded, and Raidou pulled the younger man to him in a hug. He smiled as he felt dozens of light kisses being applied to his left shoulder before Raidou heard Genma whisper, "I know you can do it."

And for once, Genma was right. In time, Raidou would learn to love himself again. He would learn to accept that Genma loves and cherishes him. It would be a long journey, but Genma would be there to help Raidou whenever he got off course. After all, that's what lovers are for.

 **~v~*~v~**

 **I sincerely apologize for the shameless switching between spelling Raido's name like: Raidou and Raido. I tried staying consistent with one or the other, but sometimes my finger hit the 'u' without meaning to, or it left the 'u' off without my permission.**

 **I hope you all enjoyed reading this! These two dorks are lovable, and need a little more love from us, I think.**

 **~VBS~**


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